Higher education services

Tender description

The purpose of this Prior Information Notice is for market engagement and is not being used as a call for competition. The purpose is to alert the market that the Institute for apprenticeships is planning on releasing a procurement on 21.1.2019 (subject to change), details of which are set out below: The Institute is seeking an organisation that will provide a comprehensive External Quality Assurance (EQA) service. EQA monitors the End Point Assessment that apprentices undertake at the end of their apprenticeship, to ensure that it is fair, consistent and robust across different apprenticeship standards and between different assessment organisations. All apprenticeship standards must contain an end-point assessment. An independent organisation must be involved in the end-point assessment of each apprentice so that all apprentices following the same standard are assessed consistently. Only organisations on the register of End-Point Assessment Organisations (EPAOs) are eligible to conduct independent end-point assessment of apprentices. The successful supplier will work with EPAOs as follows: — a focus on ensuring EPAOs are ready and able to deliver against standards where apprentices are due to complete, — guidance and constructive support for EPAOs, — responding to queries from EPAOs and other stakeholders as appropriate, — monitoring that the delivery of assessment is valid, compliant, delivering consistent outcomes and comparable, — monitoring that assessments are delivering fair outcomes for all candidates i — an annual report with recommendations for improvement on each Standard, — working with the Institute to follow up and monitor that these recommendations, — an accompanying annual report with recommendations for improvement for each EPAO. — following up and monitoring that all recommendations for EPAOs are being actioned — Readiness checks of new EPAOs in terms of assessment materials deliverables 1) Producing reports above for each standard covered within the contract in a timely fashion to allow them to be shared with the Institute’s Quality Assurance Committee in advance of their bimonthly meetings. Elements of the reports will be made publically available by the Institute; 2) Providing support to EPAOs highlighting good practice either on an individual basis or bringing together EPAOs across a standard. IfA expect at least 10 EPAO support sessions to be held annually to contribute towards this, and EPAO forums to be held quarterly, so that satisfactory outcomes are reached. Queries from EPAOs and the Institute to be responded to within 2 working days; other stakeholder queries should be responded to within 5 working days. Any remedial action will be reported to the Institute and ESFA as appropriate; 3) Providing interim EQA activity for standards where there is no named EQA provider or where the EQA provider is still to be confirmed and there are live EPAs taking place; 4) Reporting any a serious issues you must report this to the Institute immediately. This is likely to trigger a formal review as required in our statutory duties.; 5) Attending monthly review meetings with the Institute for Apprenticeships’ Assessment and Quality team to discuss your progress and findings; 7) A requirement to hand over data and materials collected in the course of the EQA to IfA. The copyright of any reports will be assigned to the Institute and the content of your report and any data collected in the course of EQA activities must remain confidential. 8) A positive and proactive approach to delivering a quality EQA service and be responsive to a range of stakeholders’ needs. A commitment to continuous improvement is also beneficial as EQA continues to expand and evolve.